Cost: $25 for general admission, $20 for seniors, $10 for students, active-duty military and children. Available at San Angelo Symphony Offices in City Hall, 72 W. College Ave.

Contact: 325-658-5877

Pianist and former San Angelo resident Michael Schneider hopes his music will help the reputation of famed 19th century Hungarian composer Franz Liszt.

Schneider, a 1993 graduate of Lake View High School, is the mastermind behind the San Angelo Symphony's "Liszt and the Last Years: A Dramatic Monologue."

The monodrama is at 7 p.m. Friday at the C.J. Davidson Conference Center in the Houston Harte University Center on Angelo State University's campus.

"I'm acting out a skit I wrote based on historical facts," Schneider said. "Liszt is kind of a misunderstood composer. Most people would think he's this flamboyant showman and a womanizer. But there were so many more sides to him.

"He was a great humanitarian and he promoted so many other musicians. This presentation sheds light on those aspects of his life."

According to the website Biography.com, Liszt began performing in concert halls at age 9. As an adult, he later eschewed touring to live with Polish princess Carolyne zu Sayn-Wittgenstei, with whom he had a 40-year relationship before opting to live his final years in solitude. At the time of his death in 1886, Liszt had penned more than 700 compositions, of which "Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2" is arguably the most famous. For Schneider, Liszt's "Piano Concerto No. 1 in E Flat Major" first captured his attention, when he was 18 and a freshman in college.

"My then-teacher at the University of North Texas said, ‘I think this would be a good piece for you,' " Schneider said. "Sure enough, I ended up using it in several competitions."

Around 2009, Schneider played "Dante Sonata" at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., during the American Liszt Society Annual Festival, he said.

Schneider teaches at Austin's Concordia University, but most of his career is centered on performing, including for the San Angelo Symphony, where he got his start.

"The first time I performed with the symphony I was 11 years old," he said. "I performed a concerto as part of the Young Musicians Competition. Ten years ago it disbanded, but as part of my legacy and what I'm trying to do in San Angelo, I started up this competition three years ago with the San Angelo Piano Festival. We've had three young winners play with the (San Angelo Symphony) orchestra exactly the way I did when I was 11."

Lindsay Boynton, education and public relations associate for the San Angelo Symphony, said Schneider's reputation and ties to the area have been part of the draw to tonight's concert, which she expects to attract 400 to 600 people.

"We've gotten quite a few phone calls from people who are interested, and even people from nearby cities like Sonora calling and letting us know they're going to be driving in," Boynton said.

With the exception of January, the San Angelo Symphony organizes a performance once a month, Boynton said. Last month's performance was "Our Legacy Lives," a typical symphony performance that also featured piano but was not a solo, as tonight's show will be.

"It's just him on the piano," Boynton said of Schneider. "I think this will be a great concert because it's a dramatic monologue. It's not just music — there's going to be some dialogue and a little bit more engaging type of presentation that he's going to be giving."

Schneider said he's slowly added to "Liszt and the Last Years" and has performed condensed versions of it prior to Friday's show.

"When the San Angelo Symphony approached me about doing a solo project, I said, ‘I have this monodrama that would be fantastic for the series and really attract some attention,' " he said. "When people watch this, they walk away feeling like they knew the man. It's an educational experience and journey through his life."